The consultant rheumatologist from a medical student's perspective

So that's the impression my supervisor for this 2-week rheumatology has left me with after 2 days of him. :P

[Food review] The Three Chimneys, Isle of Skye, Scotland

Woke up at 8 a.m. after a disturbed night's sleep on a Saturday morning all thanks to Mr B's gastroenteritis, which was made worse by the spicy Szechuan food he had for dinner last night before all the symptoms started. Unfortunate, I know. But looking on the bright side, this has given me extra time that I usually don't have on a Saturday morning to finally write up some reviews!

The Three Chimneys was probably the best restaurant that we went to in Scotland. In addition to excellent food, it also offers an absolutely stunning view overlooking Loch Dunvegan.

 Mr B and I both went for the Skye Seafood Lunch. It's definitely not cheap but worth every penny. (And it was Mr B's dad's treat :P)

We were fortunate enough to be seated by the window and enjoyed this view throughout lunch.

I was full to the brim after this 3-course meal. Particularly enjoyed the super-fresh egg yolk, the scallops, the prawns and the white fish salad. I was a little disappointed by the potted crab, which had way too much salt in and the souffle, which was really firm (although they do call it a 'pudding souffle')

Mr B's mother ordered from the lunch menu and these turned out to be excellent as well.

We will probably never go back to the Three Chimneys again (simply because it's a painful nine-hour drive from Sheffield), but I thoroughly recommend it to anyone for their impressively knowledgeable waiting staff, excellent food and friendly service.

The Three Chimneys

Colbost, Dunvegan, Isle of Skye, Highlands IV55 8ZT

01470 511258

Visited in April, 2014

[Scotland] Restaurants visited during Easter trip

I knew I haven't written any reviews for a while, but realising that it's been more than a month came as a bit of a shock :P I traveled to Scotland with Mr B and his family for two weeks during Easter and accumulated a massive list of restaurants to write about - 

Edinburgh

Mussel Inn

Wildfire

Martone

Hadrian's Brasserie at the Balmoral Hotel

Inverness

Abstract at Glenmoriston Hotel

River House Restaurant

Isle of Skye

Restaurant at the Rosedale hotel

The Three Chimneys

Balloch (on Loch Lomond)

The Lochside Restaurant

And endless hours spent on the car eating crisps which I don't even enjoy because Mr B's dad rather spend time driving around :( I prefer proper meals to junk food; prefer spending hours in museums and castles to visiting many tourist spots but only going into the gift shops; prefer having a shorter trip but staying at quality accommodation...argghhhhhhh I'm never ever staying at another Holiday Inn Express in my life!

Oh well, I'm sure my next trip to wherever can only be better :) Don't get me wrong, Mr B's parents are lovely people, it's just that our attitude towards travelling cannot be more different...

[Food Review] Tamper Coffee, Sheffield, UK

I used to be a strict Latte fan until my visit of Tamper a year ago on a Sunday morning. They made me a mocha by mistake but the barista insisted that I try it, saying their mocha is very good. And it was. I haven't order a latte since then! But the mocha from Tamper remains my firm favourite. Not too sweet, not too bitter; a perfect marriage between a latte and a hot chocolate <3

Mocha, £2.60 

I had a crossiant for breakfast, which the waiter offered to warm up and serve with jam for me. It was a lovely golden colour and crisp on the outside, fluffy in the inside. What a way to start a Sunday morning!

 Crossiant, £2.00

In my previous visit a week ago, my visiting friend Miss H and I both ordered some devine french toast.for a hearty breakfast before a 10k stroll in the Peak District. I thought 45 minute from sitting down to leaving is enough for breakfast but under-estimated how long the food would take to be made and we ended up running to the rail station. :P The french toast was presented beautifully and I loved the flavours. Maple syrup and bacon taste good with virtually everything. Downsides? The middle of my french toast were slightly under-cooked but I didn't bother to tell the waiter since we were short of time. And I prefer fruit raw so caramelised banana wasn't my thing.

French toast, £6.50.

Egg dipped brioche, caramelised banana and coffee-infused maple syrup with crispy bacon

Both visits were to Tamper's new Sellers Wheel branch, which I find much more spacious and comfortable than the old/original Westfield Terrace branch. Really glad to know that they're doing so well! The Westfield Terrance branch has always been busy and so was the Sellers Wheel branch when I visited not long after their opening times. Impressive stuff. Sellers Wheel also does more substantial dishes for lunch and has a much wider range of choices for breakfast. See their menu here, The old branch does a few cooked things for weekends, including french toast and there is a selection of pastry and cakey things for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch. Excellent coffee served in both branches though!

Add some strolling around to see these beautiful cherry blossom trees at Sheffield Town Hall for a perfect end to a Sunday morning.

P.S. To my delight water in the fountains in the city were no longer yellow as part of a Tour de France themed art event called Paint the City Yellow...it just looked like fluorescent piss.)

Tamper Coffee

Sellers Wheel - 149 Arundel Street, Sheffield, S1 2NU

Monday - Friday 8.00am – 5pm

Saturday 9am – 6pm

Sunday 10am – 5pm

Kitchen closes at 3pm on Mon-Fri; 5pm on Sat; 4pm on Sun 

Visited in March and April, 2014.



Westfield Terrace - 9 Westfield Terrace, Sheffield, S1 4GH

Monday - Friday - 8am - 4.30pm 

Saturday - 9am - 4.30pm 

Sunday - 10am - 4.30pm 

[Baking] Kinder Bueno Cheesecake

This is a very rich cake and it definitely tastes of kinder bueno for all those kinder bueno lovers out there! It is super easy to make and took just under an hour for me. The wafer bits in the kinder bueno bars did become soggy though so maybe they should be broken up more thoroughly after being microwaved so that the sogginess is less noticeable?

The occasion was Mr B's mother's birthday. When I asked Mr B what she likes he went 'anything and everything'. Not helpful. So knowing that Mr B likes kinder bueno, I found this recipe on Google by Boutique Bake and decided to make it. This is actually the first time I've made a non-baked cheesecake successfully. Previous cheesecakes I've made never managed to set despite using different recipes and I've had to freeze and eat them like ice-cream cakes! (Alternatively drink the mixture from a plastic cup...I vaguely remember doing that after a Home Economics lesson in year 7 XD) Anyway since I was making this cake the night before I meet Mr B's mother, it was kind of risky. Luckily, the cake turned out to be perfect <3

Ingredients:

• 300 g digestive biscuits  
• I used McVitie's dark chocolate digestives because I couldn't find any normal ones at Tesco at 9.30pm. It gave the base a slight 'adulty' bitter taste which I thought was quite nice.

• 150 g butter

• 350 mls of fresh cream (whipped)
• I used double cream here and only used 300mls since that's how much a tub contains

• 450g philadelphia cheese

• 150g icing sugar sifted

• 5 kinder bueno bars

Method:

1. Oil a springclip tin where the base can come away from the sides with a bit of sunflower oil.
• I used a sunflower oil spray then a BBQ sauce brush to apply it evenly to the tin
2. Melt butter and crush biscuits in plastic bag using a rolling pin. 
3. Add crushed biscuits to the melted butter and mix. Put in base of tin and make sure its tightly compressed together by using the back of a spoon
4. Whip Philadelphia with electric whisk. 
5. In separate bowl, whip the the cream. Add the icing sugar to the whipped philadelphia and fold in whipped cream.
6. Melt kinder buenos in microwave on low setting and stir every 30 seconds until the chocolate has melted. Add to cheesecake mixture. Pour onto biscuit base and leave in fridge to set.

I covered the cake with cling film and left it to set for almost a day. Took the cake out and..... 

Success! No liquidy mess that needs salvaging by freezing or served in cups instead :P The photo is slightly blurred as Mr B was about to bring his mother into the flat but I haven't lit the candles yet...oops.

[Accommodation review] North Star Hotel, Dublin, Ireland

We stayed at the North Star Hotel in north Dublin for 3 nights. The hotel has been newly refurbished recently but still smelled old and unpleasant in some areas, e.g. the gym, the residents' lounge, and to a lesser extent, the bathroom in the room we stayed at. 

Location: 

• The airport link bus stop towards city centre was just across the corner within a 2-minute walk. 
• Connolly rail station and Luas stop are just across the road, and Busáras Bus Station is just down the road. 
• 5-minute walk to O'Connell Street, one of the main streets
• 15-minute walk crossing the River Liffey to Grafton Street, where there are also lots of shops but the area appears more high-end

Quietness: I requested a quiet room away from the main street and railway which was what we got. Occasionally you do hear trains pass but it wasn't that loud nor frequent. And trains don't pass during sleeping hours anyway.

Wifi: The wifi signal in our room wasn't brilliant so Mr B and I ended up having to go to the residents' lounge at times. There you could experience the whole floor vibrating accompanied by really loud train noises when trains pass.

The gym: One of the reasons I chose the hotel was because of the gym. There was a good variety of machines but none of them were switched on and I gave up on trying after a while. There were no staff around to help and I couldn't be bothered to ask the reception about it. The place also smelled very strongly of food in a bad way as the breakfast room was in the basement as well.

Breakfast: Buffet style. A good variety of choices from cereal to pastry things to full Irish breakfast. Found it bizarre that some guests were down for continental breakfast only and told they shouldn't take any of the hot food. 

The room itself: Very clean with tea making facilities. Adequate size. 

[Food review] Paris Bakery, Dublin, Ireland

On our last day in Dublin, we decided to visit Phoenix Park in search of fallow dears. We found none, and I decided a little sweet was called for to reward ourselves for all the walking.

Sat on Moore Street amongst market stalls selling fruits, vegetables and flowers was this massive bakery/restaurant/patisserie/delicatessen. Having first read about the bakery in French Foodie's blog post on where to find macaroons in Dublin, I set about looking for the macaroons and found them piled high on a large plate next to lots of cake.

I settled for pistachio and lemon flavours. There were also a few other flavours like chocolate and raspberry on display. Their appearance wasn't perfect - they had slightly cracked shells and the filling of the lemon one wasn't distributed symmetrically, but I really enjoyed the slightly chewy texture and the flavours. I have found macaroons from Ladurée too sweet in the past but the sweetness of these macaroons were just right for me. The lemon macaroon actually reminded me of these lemon cheesecake slices from M&S that I adore.

I spotted chocolate twists on display as well and couldn't resist getting one. It was very fresh and full of chocolatey goodness. I prefer pastry hot and microwaved it when I got home - tasted even better with the chocolate slightly melted. Hmmmmm, I'm craving another one as I write.

Macaroons were €0.90 each - very good value considering the ones I saw at Cocoa Atelier were €1.60 each. I think the chocolate twist was €2.00.

Paris bakery

18-19 Moore Street, Dublin 1

Open daily 8am-11pm

Visited in March, 2014